I'm Not The Only One
by bellsloveklondike
Summary: Bells and Bermuda learn to put their differences aside. BermudaxOC oneshot OOC Bermuda


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>div class="gr-body" style="border: 0px; overflow: hidden; word-break: break-word; background-color: transparent; zoom: 1; position: relative; box-sizing: border-box;"<br>div class="gr" style="box-sizing: border-box; border: 0px;"  
>div class="grf-indent" style="box-sizing: border-box;"<br>div class="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 15px 15px 37px 33px; margin: 0px auto; line-height: 1.5em; font-size: 13px; z-index: 20; position: relative; word-wrap: break-word; overflow-wrap: break-word;" "Remember to stand tall, chin up, shoulders back."br /br / "I know."br /br / "Also, remember to be polite! Manners!br /br / "Yes, I know mother."br /br / "And of course, please smile." Your mother turned to you as you both stopped in front of the door that led to the throne room. br /br / A smile tugged at your lips as your mother rambled on about other lady-like things that you should remember to do and what not, it really warmed your heart about how much she was excited. br /br / "Now [Name]," You turned from the door to look at the older woman, "You know this isn't the way I wanted it to be, but it's-"br /br / "What father's wants, I know mother." You gave her a smile, letting her know that you were all right with the situation, "I want to please father, and if this is what he wishes, so be it." br /br / The queen smiled at you, wrapping her arms around you in a hug, which you returned, "But," She started as she let go of you and held you at arms-length, "I still want you to find love."br /br / You smile faltered at her words, but you nodded, to appease her. And she opened the door. br /br / Now, what exactly is the situation here? It was quite simple actually. An arranged marriage. br /br / You were a princess, and of course there was duties that came with the position. Often you would ask yourself why you of all people had to be cursed with the royal blood. Anyways, these duties are to be the spitting image of gracefulness itself, intellectual, but of course know when to hold your tongue, be kind to the people and to cherish the kingdom. Your kingdom was small in size, but vast in culture and liveliness. But there was something else that is important about your kingdom, the neighboring one. The neighboring kingdom was quite larger than your own, but of course, had a culture of their own, and of course most likely as lively as the one your resided in. The catch was the two kingdoms went to war a long, long time ago. The war lasted for six months and contained a great amount of death and sacrifice. In the end the kingdoms signed a peace treaty that led the two kingdoms into a hundred years of peace and prosperity. After that hundred years, it brings you to today. Your father found out a month and a half ago that your peaceful neighborly king had a son around your age, and when this news was known, your marriage to the prince was set. The two kings, your father of course being one of them, thought what a better way to prolong the peace between the nations then by coming together by a beautiful marriage. br /br / The queen walked in before you, to have you follow her. Her head was held high, shoulders back and spine straight. She was indeed the perfect queen. You matched her posture to the very tip, but it was obvious that yours was still more naive and passive, not at defiant as your mother's. Your father sat in his throne next to the king that was soon going to be your father-in-law, the two just chatting away. Your mother took her seat next to her husband, catching their attention, alerting your arrival. The two men stood up as you approached the thrones, both with gleaming smiles. br /br / You curtsied to them all, "Good day father." you said as you rose from your curtsy. br /br / He beamed at you, "And a good day to you, my dear, did you have any issues waking this morning?"br /br / "Of course not." You replied with a small smile. br /br / The king matched your smile, "You remember King Louis?"br /br / He asked as if there wasn't a doubt that you forgot him, "Yes I do," You smiled at him, he returning the gesture. How could you forget the man, he visits at least once a month, even more at times. br /br / "That's great! Since it is drawing near to your wedding," emThree weeks to be exact/em, you though, "We thought it was a good idea for you and Francis to get to know each other a little more. How does that sound."br /br / You smiled and bowed yourself, "That sounds like a wonderful idea."br /br / "Excellent." Just then, King Louis waved over a man from the window that you didn't even notice before, to come over to where you all were. br /br / You watched the man as he approached. He had golden hair, shoulder length, but nothing too extravagant or special. He was taller than you of course, most people were since you were cursed not only with royal blood, but the simple height of 5 foot 3 inches. But women were expected to be small and dainty in this age. He was royal clothing, nothing too formal, it was more relaxed, much like your [color] dress you were wearing. Now what caught you the most was his sparkling blue eyes. They were beautiful, you didn't think a man could be this beautiful, it really got you off guard. br /br / "[Name], Zhis iz my son Francis. Your fiance." As soon as the words left King Louis's mouth, you felt your heart sink a bit. br /br / emSo this is the man I am arranged to marry. /emYou thought, not that you resented him or anything. br /br / Despite this, you put a smile on and curtsied before him, bowing your head slightly, "It's a pleasure to finally meet your acquaintance." You spoke softly, not wanting to come off too strong. br /br / As you stood up to your full height, Francis swiftly caught your hand, bowing slightly to you to kiss the back of your hand, "Excuse me princess, but zhe pleasure iz all mine." His voice was like silk, very comfortable to listen too. br /br / You gave him a smile before turning to look at your father, "You both are free to go, just stay within the castle's gates."br /br / You nodded to your father's words, "Yes father." you curtsied to your father, even though your hand was still held by Francis. br /br / He smiled broadly at you before he tucked your arm around his, escorting you to the doors. br /br / To say the least, he was not at all what you expected, but of course you didn't really know him yet. He was certainly charming, but there was something else there that you couldn't quite pinpoint. br /br / There was small talk here and there as the two of you decided to make your way out to the garden to talk, it was a pleasant atmosphere out there. It was the place where you went when you needed to just escape the reality of a princess. br /br / "So tell me princess,"br /br / You stopped him there, "[Name] is fine, we don't need to use formalities if we are to be wed in three weeks."br /br / A low chuckle escaped his broad chest, "Of course, [Name], I zhink zhat iz zhe best." You returned his smile, "Anyvays, I was actually wondering 'ow you felt about zhe marriage. You are two years younger zhan me, so I wasn't sure 'ow you would take zhe newz."br /br / "Age is a number, maturity comes from experience," You stated confidently, looking at the flowers that surrounded the two of you, "I am completely fine with the marriage if you ask me. Finding love is far to difficult in the world, so being arranged to marry someone doesn't bother me. If it appeases my father and my kingdom, I don't have a worry in the world about it." When you finished talking, Francis stopped walking immediately. br /br / You looked over at him to see if something wrong, but your eyes just met a very serious look. br /br / "Do not say zhat [Name], love is very important." The tone in his was dangerously serious, it almost frightened you. br /br / "I don't think it is very important because just like every other emotion, love will come and love will go. Why try to find something that is never going to stay and never going to fulfill you?" You questioned him with your own seriousness. br /br / Francis's lips were pressed into a firm line. The look on his face resembled the look people get when they were in deep thought, but he mainly looked like he wasn't sure what to do nor say. br /br / But finally, "Let me show you what love iz." left his lips. br /br / The blonde started to walk again, swiftly taking you with him, and led you to the front of your castle. There was a large water fountain there, and one the edge of the fountain, Francis sat down, again, taking your with him. br /br / "Just like water," Francis said, taking your hand and dipping it in the water, "Love keeps flowing and never stops. Water cannot be contained either. Water can take zhe shape of a glass, a bowl, even a plate, it has no form. The form of love iz simply 'ere." He brought the hand that wasn't holding yours in the water and touched the middle of your chest, "Your 'eart."br /br / Yes, he had a good point, but love is just another useless emotion, and your eyes showed your continuing hesitance, "But-"br /br / He cut you off, "No, no questions and you cannot speak until I am finished showing what love iz. Understand princess?" You slowly nodded, "Bon! Let us continue elsewhere." Francis flashed you a smile and drug you up from the fountain's edge where you both sat, taking you back into the garden. br /br / When you entered the garden, you noticed how Francis firmly still held your hand, but you thought nothing of it. br /br / "Tell me [Name], what iz your favorite flower?" He asked, looking around at the various flowers. br /br / All you could think was emDo I have permission to speak? /emYou just assumed yes because he asked the question, not you, "Uh, my favorite flower would have to be [Favorite flower]."br /br / "Excellent choice, are zhere any in zhe garden?"  
>He asked. br br / With a nod, you started leading him deeper into the garden where the flowers sat. Of course the garden would have your favorite flowers. Your father made sure the landscaper at least put a few in there somewhere, but the landscaper went above and beyond than you and your father expected. br /br / A smile played at your lips as you approached the special place that held your flowers. It was a pure white gazebo towards the edge of the garden, and there were flower boxes hanging off the edge of the gazebo that held [fav. flowers]. Whenever your father always insisted of calling this [Name]'s gazebo, because it was built just for /br / "Zhis is beautiful [Name]!" Francis beamed, now dragging you along into the gazebo. But he quickly returned to his serious state and sat down with you on one of the benches, "So [Flower] are your favorite." br /br / You smiled at him and nodded. br /br / He smiled back and turned to the flower box that held the flowers, "You would say flowers are fragile, oui?" You nodded, "Yes, and love iz fragile too." He carefully picked one of the from the flower box and handed it to you. br /br / The gesture was sweet, you took the flower and sniffed the amazing fragrance, "Thank you."br /br / Francis nodded and continued, "Like zhe petals of a flower, love iz delicate. Love iz sweet and beautiful, just like a flower." When you looked up from the flower, your eyes immediately were sucked into his vivid blue eyes. br /br / A blush slowly sunk into your cheeks as you continued to stare back at him, finding it incredibly hard to look away, and the wold stopped spinning. A strange feeling started fluttering in your chest, and as if he understood what was going on with your body chemistry, Francis smiled. It wasn't one of his loud grins, it was a sweet, small smile, only for you to see. br /br / And he began to talk again, "Until zhis morning, I resented marrying you." His statement startled you, but he went on to explain, "I detested zhe idea of an arranged marriage. I wanted to control who I would love for zhe rest of my life, I wanted to pick who I would have the joy of waking up every morning and see, I wanted to control who would bare my children." His voice rose a little, but it softened, "On the ride in the carriage this morning, all my father would talk about was your beauty and 'ow polite you were, and let's not forget 'ow 'e went on and on about your many talents." You blushed bashfully at this, making him chuckle, "I 'ear you're quite intelligent, and when you don't think anyone's listening, you 'ave a witty tongue," You felt another blush surface. The only one who knew you were skilled with words was your tutor Arthur, "Don't worry, I find zhat a wonderful trait in a woman." You relaxed a little, "As my father bragged about you, I still was upset about zhe whole arrangement." You were about to protest and say that if he really wanted, he could call off the arrangement, but he started talking again before you could, "But when you and your mother walked into zhe zhrone room, my world stopped. I could tell zhat you didn't notice me at first, but zhat didn't matter to me. I was truly enchanted by you. You were indeed as beautiful as everyone 'ad told me." He smiled and took both of your hands in his, the flower was set in your lap, "And I knew zhat I loved you, and I knew I experienced love at first sight. Because when you walked into my life like zhat, nothing and nobody else mattered." He kissed your knuckles, making that same fluttering feeling arise again, "So when you said zhat you didn't believe in love, it crushed me." br /br / Francis stood, taking you with him, still holding your hands, he got down on one knee, "Zhere is no need for me to propose to you since we are getting married in zhree weeks, but I promise you zhis; If you let me, I want to show you what love iz all about. I want you to fall in love with me, but I don't want it to me forced. It will take time, but I 'ope it won't take too long. Will you allow me to win you 'eart?" You blushed heavily at his words. Nobody besides your mother has ever been this considerate of you. It warmed you through to the core. br /br / "I would be honored my prince." You smiled brightly, egging on a smile of his own. br /br / He hopped up from his place on the ground and wrapped his strong arms around your smaller frame, enveloping you in his warmth. You wasted no time in returning his hug. br /br / You knew that he said he was there to help you fall in love with him, but you think you already did./div  
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